Process for dyeing acid-modified nylon fibers

ABSTRACT

ACID-MODIFIED BULK CONTINUOUS FILAMENT NYLON FIBERS CAN BE DYED IN BLUE TO TURQUOISE SHADES WITH BISCATIONIC ANTHRAQUINONE DYES PREPARED BY QUATERNIZING THE BISCONDENSATION PRODUCT OF AN N,N-DISUBSTITUTED C2-4 ALKYLENEDIAMINE AND QUINIZARIN OR 1,4,5,8-TETRAHYDROXYANTHRAQUINONE. THE BISCATIONIC DYES HAVE EXCELLENT RESERVE ON UNMODIFIED NYLON FIBERS AND FIBERS SO DYED HAVE SUFFICIENT LIGHT FASTNESS FOR USE IN NYLON STYLING CARPETING.

3,700,398 PROCESS FOR DYEING ACID-MODIFIED NYLON FIBERS John Elton Cole, Jr., Wilmington, DeL, assignor to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del. No Drawing. Filed July 27, 1970, Ser. No. 58,709 Int. Cl. D06p 3/82 U.S. Cl. 8-21 B Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Acid-modified bulk continuous filament nylon fibers can be dyed inblue to turquoise shades with biscationic anthraquinone dyes prepared by quaternizing the biscondensation product of an N,N-disubstituted C alkylenediamine and quinizarin or l,4,5,8-tetrahydr0xyanthraquinone. The biscationic dyes have excellent reserve on unmodified nylon fibers and fibers so dyed have sufficient light fastness for use in nylon styling carpeting.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Multicolored bulked continuous filament BCF nylon styling carpeting has grown rapidly in popularity since its introduction a few years ago. Such carpeting initially contained several polyamide modifications which differ from each other with respect to the concentration of free amine end groups in the fiber. U.S. 3,078,248 describes the preparation of polyamide fibers of varying amine end content. Since amine groups act as dye sites for acid dyes, these modified nylons increase in acid dye receptivity as amine end content increases. Hence, when a carpet composed of three such nylon having low, medium and high amine end content (which may be termed light-, mediumand deep-dyeable nylon, respectively) is dyed with a suitable acid dye or dyes, a three-tone eifect is produced. Greater versatility of shade is obtained by using disperse dyes in addition to acid dyes. Disperse dyes are not sitedyeing (since they possess no ionic groups) and thus dye all nylon modifications of the kind described above to the same depth, irrespective of the amine-end concentration. To illustrate this point, one can visualize a tricomponent nylon carpet dye first with a suitable red acid dye and then with a yellow disperse dye. The red dye will produce light, medium and deep red shades, respectively, on the three different kinds of nylon. The yellow disperse dye, however, will dye all three nylons to the same depth of shade. The resulting shades will be reddish yellow, orange and scarlet, respectively.

With the introduction of acid-modified nylons (e.g. as in US. 3,184,436), the range of multicolored elfects obtainable on BCF nylon styling carpeting was greatly increased. Acid-modified nylons, which contain sulfonic acid groups on the polymer chain, are dyeable with cationic dyes but have little or no affinity for acid dyes. Thus, a carpet containing two or three nylons of varying affinity for acid dyes and an acid-modified nylon which reserves (i.e. is not stained by) acid dyes can be dyed at will with any combination of shades, including primary colors (those colors that cannot be obtained by combining other colors) side by side on the same carpet. Dyeing methods have been developed so that such carpets can be dyed with acid and cationic dyes in a single dyeing operation. Thus, a red acid dye and a blue cationic dye (with a suitable dyebath additive to prevent coprecipitation of the dyes) will produce varying shades of red on the acid dye-receptive nylons and a blue shade on the acid-modified cationic dye-receptive nylon.

The choice of cationic dyes for acid-modified nylon in styling carpeting depends on two main considerations, namely, an adequate degree of fastness (particularly to "United States Patent O light) on the acid-modified nylon and a lack of crossstalning on the unmodified nylon. The former consideration is self-explanatory, since the fastness requirements for carpet dyes are higher than for almost any other dye end-use; the latter consideration is important since cross-stains can have poor fastness properties and would tend to dull the shade of the acid dyes on the unmodified nylon components and minimize the color contrast between the different types of fiber.

It has been found 'that the staining of unmodified nylon with cationic dyes depends on the pH at which the dyes are applied to the substrate. Many commercial, monocationic dyes have satisfactory non-staining characteristics on unmodified nylon at low pH (i.e. 4 or below). However, at the preferred dyeing pH range for monocationic dyes of 6-6.5, staining becomes more apparent and tends to become unacceptable for commercial use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Nylon styling yarns containing acid-modified nylon and unmodified nylon fibers can be dyed in an aqueous dyebath at a pH of from about 6 to about 6.5 with blue to turquoise dyes of the structure where X=H or OH,

R and R =C alkyl or together form a morpholino,

pyrrolidino or piperidino ring,

or R R and R together form a pyridinium ring with the nitrogen atoms,

A =anion.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention provides a process of dyeing acidmodified nylon styling yarns under neutral to weakly acidic conditions with biscationin anthraquinone dyes Which dye the acid-modified nylon component in deep blue to turquoise shades and non-acid-modified nylon fiber component is essentially unstained.

The dyes which may be applied to acid-modified bulk continuous filament nylon according to this invention have the general formula IYI where X=H or OH,

R, and R =C alkyl, or together form a morpholino,

piperidino, or pyrrolidino ring,

R =H, C alkyl or benzyl,

or R R and R together form a pyridim'um ring with the N atom,

Preferred dye species include and G3 I IIIHCHzCHgCHzDKCHa);

The dyes are prepared by heating leuco-quinizarin or leuco-l,4,5,8-tetrahydroxyanthraquinone with at least two moles of an amine of formula R R N(CH ),,NH (where R R and n have the meaning stated above) in an organic medium, which may be a solvent such as ethanol, isopropanol or Cellosolve, or an excess of the amine itself. It is advantageous to run the reaction under nitrogen to avoid oxidation of the leuco form before biscondensation has occurred.

When the reaction is complete, the leuco form of the 1,4-diamino intermediate is oxidized either by heating in air with nitrobenzene or by passing air through the reaction mixture,.and the two pendant tertiary amine groups are then treated with an acid or a quaternizing agent R A, giving the desired blue or turquoise biscationic dye.

Examples of amines that may be used to prepare dyes of this invention include the following:

(OHQZN-omOHZNHZ 6 N -ontontomon,

v R A may represent any quaternizing agent known in the art. Although physical properties such as solubility and crystalline form would be affected by a change in A-, dye application and fastness properties are substantially unchanged. Examples of typical quaternizing agents include dimethyl sulfate; diethyl sulfate; alkyl chloride, bromide or iodide (where alkyl=methyl, ethyl, n-propyl or n-butyl); benzyl chloride, bromide or sulfate; methyl,

ethyl'or benzyl p-toluenesulfonate. R A may also be a strong acid such as hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid or an arylsulfonic acid.

Other dyes of utility on acid-modified nylon fibers may be prepared by condensation of leuco-quinizarin or leuco- 1,4,5,8 tetrahydroxyanthraquinone with quaternary amines of the formula 4 on acid-modified BCF nylon fibers. Such polymers are described, for instance, in US. 3,184,436 and contain sulfonate groups along the polymer chain which act as dye sites for basic or cationic dyes. The instant dyes have also been found to display an almost total lack of affinity for unmodified nylon fibers under neutral to weakly acidic conditions. In other words, at pH 6-6.5, the biscationic dyes almost completely reserve nylon fibers which do not contain sulfonate groups. This behavior differs from that of known blue monocationic anthraquinone dyes, which tend to stain unmodified nylon under near-neutral conditions and which display good reserve only under more acidic conditions (i.e. pH 4 or below).

The importance of these observations lies in the fact that nylon styling carpeting, which contains acid-modified and unmodified nylons, is piece-dyed most satisfactorily at pH 66.5. Acid and cationic dyes are applied to the carpeting from a single dyebath, which contains an additive to prevent co-precipitation of the oppositely charged dye molecules. Several reasons why neutral to weakly acidic conditions are preferred for this dyeing procedure are as follows:

(a) Although cationic dyes generally reserve unmodified nylons more efliciently at lower pH, they do not exhaust as well from the dyebath onto acid-modified nylon;

(b) Acid dyes generally exhaust more efiiciently at lower pH, but suffer a decrease in levelness on unmodified nylon and tend to stain acid-modified nylon at lower pH; and

(c) Styling carpet that has a jute backing undergoes increased staining of the nylon by impurities in the jute with increasing acidity, causing dulling of dye shade and deterioration of dye fastness properties.

At neutral to weakly acidic conditions, cationic dyes may be applied to nylon styling carpet in conjunction with neutral-dyeing acid dyes, which have satisfactory exhaust and levelness under these conditions. It has now been discovered that the biscationic dyes described herein above have significantly better non-staining properties on unmodified nylon at pH 66.5 than any known commercial blue cationic dye.

Although biscationic dyes have been disclosed in the patent literature for several years for use on various sub strates, particularly for acid-modified acrylic fibers, biscationic anthraquinon dyes like those disclosed in the present invention were found to have very limited utility on acrylics (such as those disclosed in US. 2,837,500 and US. 2,837,501) because of low afiinity and poor buildup on the substrates. Much the same thing was found to be true of acid-modified polyester (such as is disclosed in U.S. 3,018,272). Thus, it was totally unexpected to find that the biscationic dyes of this invention have entirely adequate buildup on acid-modified nylon, producing deep blue to turquoise shades thereon.

The novel biscationic dyes derived from 1,4,5,8-tetrahydroxyanthraquinone differ from those derived from 1,4- dihydroxyanthraquinone in two important respects: (a) they are more green in shade and (b) they have a green flare which means they appear more green when viewed in artificial (incandescent) light than when viewed in natural (day) light. The biscationic dyes derived from quinizarin flare towards the red when viewed in artificial light. Th1s property, which is a function of the extent to which a dye molecule absorbs visible light of varying wave length, has great commercial significance. Ideally, a dyed article would appear the same shade, regardless of the light under which it was viewed. Thus, a customer who bought a carpet which appeared to be just the right shade when viewed under the store lights would never be chagrined next day to see a very different shade of carpet in daylight. The extent and direction of flare of a mixed shade is, of course, dependent on the flare characteristics of the component dyes.

Commercial nylon styling carpet usually contains acidmodified nylon and from two to four unmodified nylons.

of varying acid dyereceptivity which are tufted onto a backing in a random pattern to give the desired styling effects.

In order to evaluate cationic and acid dyes for this end-use, however, a test carpeting is used in which the various nylons are tufted onto a backing in discreet bands. The instant dyes were evaluated on a test carpet with the following specifications: Five bands of trilobal, jetbulked BCF nylon yarns, spun from the nylon flake, are tufted onto a non-woven polypropylene backing, each band being six tufts in width. The first band is acidmodified, 1300 denier BCF nylon (such as that described in US. 3,184,436). The other four bands are unmodified, 3700 denier BCF nylons which have progressively increasing acid dyereceptivity by virtue of an increasing amine-end content, which ranges from to more than 100 gram-equivalents of free amine ends per grams of polymer. The specific amine-end range for each band is as follows:

(1) 5-25 gram-equivalentslight-dyeable with acid dyes,

(2) -55 gram-equivalentsmedium-dyeable with acid dyes,

(3) 55-100 gram-equivalentsdeep-dyeable with acid dyes.

(4) 100-120 gram-equivalents-ultradeepdyeable with acid dyes.

The deep dyeing nylons (3) and (4) are disclosed in US.

The carpeting is dyed by the procedure used for commercial styling carpet, which can be dyed with acid and cationic dyes in the same dyebath by using as a dyeing assistant at sulfo-betaine of the general structure (omommmomomon R-omN-omomcmsm crnornonomomon where =aliphatic hydrocarbon radical of 7-17 carbon atoms, m=0-3, p +1 The preparation of these compounds is described in US. 3,380,179. Their utility in this particular end-use is disclosed in the defensive publication of Robbins, Ser. No. 634,477, dated Apr. 29, 1969. The functions of the sulfobetaine additive are to prevent coprecipitation of the acid and cationic dyes, to enhance the levelness of both classes of dye without .supressing buildup and to minimize crossstaining.

Piece dyeing is carried out at temperatures above 70 C. and preferably near the boil (95-100 C.). Lower temperatures cause inferior exhaust and poor contrast through cross-staining. The pH of the dyebath may be anywhere from 3 to 9, but the most favored pH range is 6-6.5 as discussed above.

The sulfobetaine dyeing assistant may be used in amounts as low as 0.05% of the weight of the fiber being dyed, but the best results are obtained with 02-03%. Amounts in excess of 0.5% of the weight of the fiber have led to an increase in cross-staining.

The dyeing procedure is advantageously preceded by a bleach scour, as described in Example 7(a) below, in order to obtain maximum shade brightness and contrast.

Finally, dyeing is usually followed by conventional rinse and drying steps. Conventional finishing, drying, latexing, and double backing application may be performed by customary means.

The aforementioned dyeing procedure may be adapted for the continuous dyeing of styling carpet, a comparatively new technique which is referred to 'in Melliand Textilberichte, 48, 415-448 (April 1967). Continuous dyeing is taught as being related to piece dyeing in that 6 it is an aqueous process, but (a) at very low bath ratios, i.e. 5:1 instead of 30:1 to 50:1, and (b) the rate of fixation is much faster, since temperatures near the boil are attained more quickly in a steamer than in heating up a beck. Cationic and acid or direct dyes may also be printed onto nylon styling carpeting, with excellent results.

Although the discussion has been devoted up to this point to styling carpeting, there are other areas in which BOF nylon styling yarns may be effectively used, such as upholstery and accent o-r throw rugs. The dyed acid-modified nylon of this invention would be applicable to these end-uses as well as for carpeting. The dyeing of these items may be carried out by the same means as that described for carpeting, using suitable equipment. Thus, carpeting is usually dyed in becks; upholstery is usually dyed in jigs; accent or throw rugs are usually dyed in paddle machines.

Evaluation of the instant dyes was carried out by dyeing them singly onto nylon test carpeting as described above, in the absence of any acid dyes. In this way, the degree of cross-staining on the unmodified nylons is readily apparent. Staining occurs most readily on the unmodified band containing the least number of free amine ends, since this nylon contains the highest density of carboxylic acid end groups, which can act as dye sites for cationic dyes. Staining by cationic dyes can be induced on the deep-dyeable and ultradeep-dyeable nylons by raising the dyeing pH, or by suitable choice of dye. However, the staining of the light-dyeable and mediumdyeable bands would then be so bad as to be quite unacceptable. A reasonable candidate will barely stain the first two bands and will leave the higher amine-end nylons untouched.

The preparation of the dyes of this invention may be illustrated by the following examples. Parts are given by weight.

EXAMPLE 1 Condensation of N, N-dimethyl-1,3-propanediamine with leucoquinizarin A mixture of 121 parts of leucoquinizarin and parts of N,N- dimethyl-1,3-propanediamine in 700 parts of ethanol was heated to reflux and stirred at this temperature for 2 hours. The reaction mixture was cooled to 50 C. and 35 parts of nitrobenzene were added.

The reaction mixture was heated back to reflux and stirred at this temperature for 1 hour, after which it was allowed to cool to room temperature overnight With stirring. Next, parts of methyl iodide were added with stirring. The temperature rose to 45 C. The reaction mixture was stirred for 1 hour and then cooled to room temperature. The precipitated solids were isolated by filtration, washed with isopropanol and dried. Yield: 290 parts (84%); M.P. 278 C.; A (in water) 585 and 627 m e 16,330, 18,740 liters per mole per cm., respectively.

Calc. for C H I N O (percent): C, 45.3; H, 5.2; I, 36.8; N, 8.12. Found (pencent): C, 45.8; H, 5.45; I, 33.8; N, 7.2.

The product has the structure:

When 105 parts of N,N-dimethyl-1,3-propanediamine were replaced by (a) 172 parts of N,N-dibutylethylenediamine or (b) 142 parts of N-(4-aminobutyl)pyrrolidine in the procedure described in Example 1, a blue dye was obtained having the structure I (l? lIIHCH2CH2N (CAHn):

(b) CH O NHCHzCHzCHzCHaN EXAMPLE 3 Condensation of N,N-dimethyl-l,3-propanediamine with leuco-1,4,5,8-tetrahydroxyanthraquinone To a stirred mixture of 276 parts of leuco-l,4,5,8-tetrahydroxyanthraquinone in 2200 parts of isopropanol under a nitrogen blanket was slowly added 225 parts of N,N-dimethyl-1,3-propanediamine. The mixture was heated to reflux and stirred at this temperature for 2 /2 hours. After cooling to room temperature, the mixture' was clarified by filtration through filter cel and the residue Washed with isopropanol. The washings were added to the filtrate. Nitrobenzene (61 parts) was added to the clarified solution, which was then heated to refiux for 1 hour and cooled to room temperature. Quaternization of the basic dye thus produced was efiYected by adding 536 parts of dimethyl ulfate slowly to the reaction mixture. The temperature rose to 65 C. After stirring overnight and allowing to cool to room temperature, the precipitated solid was separated by filtration and washed with isopropanol until the wash was only lightly colored. The filter cake was slurried at room temperature in 5000 parts of isopropanol, isolated by filtration, reslurried in hot (80 C.) isopropanol overnight, isolated again by filtration and Washed with isopropanol until the Wash was almost colorless. The solids were dried. Yield: 409 parts (59%); k (in water) 611 and 644 m a 19,720, 20,000 liters per mole per cm., respectively.

Calc. for C H N O S (percent): C, 48.6; H, 6.3; N, 8.1; S, 9.2. Found (percent): C, 49.15; H, 6.75; N, 7.3; S, 9.75.

The product has the structure 2c12nsol When applied to acid-modified nylon by the method illustrated in Example 7, a greenish-blue shade of good fastness to light is obtained.

EXAMPLE 4 When 225 parts of N,N dimethyl 1,3 propanediamine were replaced by (a) 282 parts of N-(2-arninoethyl)piperidine or (b) 380 parts of N,N dipropyl-1,4- butanediamine in the procedure described in Example 3, a dye was obtained having the structure zcHlsm H? (I) lTIHCHzCHzCHzCHzg(C H1):

QCHXSOIG respectively. These dyes give turquoise shades of good fastness to light when applied to acid-modified nylon by the procedure of Example 7.

EXAMPLE 5 276 parts of leuco l,4,5,8-tetrahydroxyanthraquinone and 225 parts of 3 dimethylaminopropylamine were heated at 85-90 C. in 2000 parts of Cellosolve under nitrogen blanket for 8 hours. The reaction mixture was cooled and 60 parts of nitrobenzene were added. The reaction mass was heated in air to 85-90 C. for 1 hour and then allowed to cool to room temperature by stirring overnight. The mixture was clarified by filtration through a bed of filter cel and the residue washed with a small quantity of Cellosolve. The washings were added to the filtrate. 260 parts of benzyl chloride were then added and the reaction mixture was stirred at 70-75 C. overnight. After cooling to room temperature, 8000 parts of water and 250 parts of sodium fiuoborate were then added and the resulting suspension heated to 45-50 C. On cooling slowly to room temperature with stirring, considerable precipitation of a grainy solid occurred, which was subsequently isolated by filtration and washed with water and isopropanol. The solids were reslurried for 1 hour in 5000 parts of isopropanol and then separated by filtration and washed with isopropanol until the bleed was colorless. Finally, the product was washed with water (8000 parts) and then with isopropanol (2000 parts) and dried. Dry weight: 640 parts The chromatographically pure blue powder had A 620, 673 m e =20,400, 27,700 liter/mole/cm., respectively (in dimethylacetamide-water) The structure of the dye is vs' li- 2B Fa CH;

Shade and fastness on acid-modified nylon were similar to those of the dye of Example 3.

EXAMPLE 6 quaternized with 290 parts of methyl iodide instead of methyl sulfate, a dye formed that has the formula ea r IH-CHmHQCHgN o ll 63/ H 0 ATE-CHzCHaCHzN O EXAMPLE 7 Dyeing of banded B CF nylon carpeting (a) Bleach scour.-100 parts of the carpeting described above were heated for minutes at 80 F. in 4000 parts of water containing Parts Sodium perborate 4 Trisodium phosphate 0.25 A sulfobetaine 0.5

CH:CHzOH 6B 9 R-N-CHzCHzCHzS 03 CHaGHaOH vivhzae I)I.=C alkyl (-30%);Cia alkyl (-30%); Cis mono-unsaturated The temperature was raised to 160 F. for 15 minutes and the carpet rinsed in water at 100 -F.

(b) Dyeing procedure.The carpeting was added to 4000 parts of water containing Part The aforementioned sulfobetaine 1 The tetrasodium salt of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid 0.25 Tetrasodium pyrophosphate 0.2

The dyebath was adjusted to pH 6 with monosodium phosphate and the temperature raised to 80 F. for minutes. 0.05 part of the dye of Example 1 was added and, after holding the dyebath at 80 F. for 10 minutes, the temeprature was daised at ca. 2 F. per minute to 210 F. and held at this temperature for 1 hour. The carpeting was rinsed in cold water and dried. The acidmodified band was dyed a deep blue shade.

The dyeing procedure was repeated on other samples of banded nylon carpeting with (i) the dye of Example 3 and (ii) a commercially available dye of the structure 33 (I) IIIH-CHzCHnCHzN(CHs)aCH SO4 The acid-modified band was dyed a turquoise and blue shade, respectively. The amount of. each dye was adjusted to give shades of comparable depth to that obtained with the dye of Example 1.

'EXAMPLE 8 Printing of B'CF nylon styling carpeting A sample of nylon styling carpeting containing acidmodified (medium-dyeable and ultra-deep-dyeable nylons tufted in a random pattern on a non-woven polypropylene backing was printed with a mixture containing Parts The cationic dye of Example 1 5 The sulfobetaine described in Example 7 0.5 Glacial acetic acid 5 Carrageenin thickener to give the desired viscosity. Water to parts.

The carpeting was steamed at 212220 F. for 10 minutes, rinsed, scoured for 15 minutes at F. in a 0.03% aqueous solution of the condensation product of 20 moles of ethylene oxide with 1 mole of C alcohol, rinsed and dried. The acid-modified nylon fibers were dyed a deep blue shade. The unmodified fibers had a negligible stain.

EXAMPLE 9 Continuous dyeing of nylon styling carpeting Using Kusters Equipment as described in Textile Chemist and Colorist, Jan. 14, 1970, pp. 6-12, nylon styling carpeting as described in Example 8 was run through a wet-out bath at 80 F. containing G./1. An organic alcohol extended with ethylene oxide 1.5 A sulfated polyglycol ether 0.6

Pickup was about 80%. The carpeting was then continuously treated with an aqueous dyebath composition containing Monosodium phosphate to adjust the pH to ca. 5.

The dyebath temperature was 80 F. Pickup was about 200%. The carpeting was then run through a steamer at 212 F., in which the dwell time was 8 minutes. The carpeting was rinsed thoroughly and dried. The acid-modified nylon fibers were dyed a deep turquoise shade; the unmodified fibers were negligibly stained.

EXAMPLE 10 Evaluation of cross-staining The following evaluation of the banded carpet samples dyed as described in Example 7 above illustrates the superior non-staining properties of the biscationic dyes vs. the monocationic dyes.

TABLE Dye of- Commercially avail- Example 1 Example 3 able dye Light-dyeable band 54 64 3 "Medium-dyeable band. 5-4 6-4 4 Deep-dyeable band. 5 u 5-4 Ultradeep-dyeable" band 5 5 5-4 The numbers are Gray Scale stain ratings as given in the Manual of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists and have the following significance:

5-negligible or no stain 4-slightly stained 3noticeably stained 2considerably stained 1heavily stained.

The preceding representative examples may be varied within the scope of the present total specification disclosure, as understood and practiced by one skilled in the art, to achieve essentially the same results.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limi- 1 1 1 2 tations are to be understood therefrom. The invention is whereby said unmodified nylon fibers are practically unnot limited to the exact details shown and described for stained. obvious modifications will occur to those skilled in the art. 2. The improved process of claim 1 wherein X=H. The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive 3. The improved process of claim 1 wherein X=OH.

property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 5 4. The improved process of claim 2 in which n=3,

1. In a process for dyeing acid modified nylon fibers R =CH R =CH and R =CH present in nylon styling yarns containing unmodified nylon 5. The improved process of claim 3 in which n=3,

fibers, comprising contacting said yarns with a dye dis- R =CH R =CH and R =CH persed in an aqueous dyebath having a pH of from 3 to 9,

the improvement comprising using a pH of from about 1 References Cited 6 to about 6.5 and a blue to turquoise dye having UNITED STATES A S the fmmfla 9 3,184,436 /1965 Magat 260-78 L 3 281 434 10/1966 Turetzlky et a1 8--39 XR X 0 NH CH 1 3,467,483 9/1969 Bugaut et a1. 8-39 XR 2,837,500 6/1958 Andres et al. 26079.3 O ZA 2,837,501 6/1958 Millhiser 260-793 3,018,272 1/1962 Grifiing et al. 8168 XR ii I IIH(CHz)r-R1R2Rz OTHER REFERENCES Where Robbins: Del. Pub. of Ser. No. 634,477, filed Apr. 28,

1967, published in 861 0.6. 1355 on Apr. 29, 1969, De- X H or OH, "=24, fensive Publication No. T861,()51. R and R =C alkyl or together form a morpholino, pyrrolidino or piperidino ring, GEORGE LESMES Pnmary Exammer R =C alkyl or benzyl, T. J. HERBERT, JR., Assistant Examiner R R and R together form a pyridiniurn ring with the nitrogen atom,

A =anion, 39 

